A former friend and teammate of Italian cycling's most illustrious doping victim, the late Marco Pantani, was found dead in his home north of Milan on Friday.
Valentino Fois, 34, once one of Italy's most promising young riders, recently returned to racing after five years out including a three-year doping ban.
His body was found by his mother, who reportedly rushed to his side after he complained of chest pains at the end of a two-hour phone call in the early hours of Friday morning.
Medics who examined Fois's body said he appeared to have died of a heart attack. An autopsy has been called.
Fois started off bursting with promise, taking second to German ace Jan Ullrich in the 1996 youth Tour de France at the age of 23.
But he failed to repeat his youthful feats after turning professional the same year, garnering only four wins - the best of which was a Tour of Poland stage victory in his debut year.
In an interview with Italian satirical expose' show Le Iene last year, Fois claimed he began losing because he was now faced with drug-fuelled opponents.
''As soon as I turned professional I was left gasping in the wake of guys I'd been beating hands down a few years before,'' he said.
''It took me a while to realise that taking pills was the only way to keep up with them,'' he claimed.
But Fois said he was determined to start racing again and stay clean this time.
Asked what he would do if he saw others zooming away, he replied: ''I'll just watch''.
Pantani, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2004, brought fellow climber Fois to his Mercatone Uno team in 2001 in a bid to regain the pinnacle of world cycling after two years of doping problems.
''I could write a book about Marco's problems in the years leading up to his death but I'd rather think about my professional future,'' Fois said last year.
''I've had everything, and nothing, from cycling. I've been hero and zero. Now I want to end my career with no regrets. I don't want to look back one day and think, what if I'd really ridden like a professional. I want to put 100% into my remaining years''.
Fois struggled with cocaine addiction, drink and depression after his three-year ban, imposed in 2002.
Despite describing himself as a 'borderline depressive', Fois climbed back onto the saddle last November when Amore&Vita boss Ivano Fanini offered him a performance-related deal.
Speaking Friday, Fanini said he was ''devastated'' by Fois's death.
He recalled that since November, ''apart from one beer too many in his down time'' the rider had stuck to Amore&Vita's rigid training code.
Fanini said Fois had already shown signs of being his old self, claiming 10th spot in the recent Ivory Coast Tour.
The team boss said his one regret was allowing Fois to return to his home outside Bergamo for the inauguration of a nursery school set up by the rider's fiancee'.
''If he'd stayed here with the team in Milan he might still be alive''.
''Valentino's death is a really hard knock for me, the kind you find it hard to recover from. This lad represented a victory for me because I had helped him get over his problems.
''He'd gone from depression and drug addiction to a new life, full of stimulus. He'd rediscovered the thrill of competition, being part of a group, doing a good job. He seemed to have got his head sorted, he wanted to get married.
''He was talking about having twin girls''.
''My heart goes out to his mother and fiancee'. I shared their joy at seeing him back on a bike and now I share their grief''.
Fois was a close friend of Marco 'the Pirate' Pantani, the fondly remembered Giro d'Italia and Tour winner.
Pantani's career peaked when he won the twin classics in 1998, emulating legends like Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartoli - only to take a downturn into doping scandals when he was thrown off the 1999 Giro on the eve of winning it again.
After several aborted comebacks that disappointed his legions of fans, he was found dead in a Rimini hotel room in February 2004.
